The Story of Once Upon a Time
by Heidi Erickson
Summary: If no one gets their happy ending, what would you do to change it? AU.


**Author's Note: I'm not sure this qualifies as fan fiction. It's more like a…wishful thinking/theory I decided to type, and this just sort of happened, lol. Hope you enjoy!**

**Rated T for suicide.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned OUAT…THIS would've been one way of how I'd write it. :-)**

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After Neal's death, a domino effect of endings befall the other characters.

Hook dies. After all, every man Emma has loved has died. Heartbroken, Emma swears off all men for life and takes Henry with her back to NYC. Later in life, she dies because her heart can't take any more pain.

Robin still loves Regina, but because he is a thief with honor, he stays with Maid Marian. Thinking it will be easier on himself and Regina, he finds a way back to the Enchanted Forest, and he takes his family back there.

Regina, now having lost both Robin and Henry, decides she has had enough and kills herself by crushing her own heart.

Belle finds out Rumplestiltskin's lie. Finished with him, she leaves him and travels the world on her own. Devastated, Rumple takes his own life by his own dagger, so that he can no longer exist, and neither can the Dark One.

Snow and Charming, feeling that there is no point in living in Storybrooke because Emma and Henry isn't there, moves back to the Enchanted Forest also, as well as everyone else.

They all move on with their lives, and start families of their own, and eventually die off. The destruction of two Dark Curses has made their land desolate and impoverished, and soon all life fades from the Enchanted Forest.

Many years later, a young woman goes through her deceased grandfather's closet and finds an untitled book. She brings it down to her mother and asks her about it.

Her mother replies, "I don't know. I asked my grandfather about it once, and he looked very sad and took this away. I never saw the book again until now. I only know that something about it was very, very important to him."

The young woman opens the book and turns through the pages slowly. She becomes enthralled with the fascinating tales of different people who had lived in an enchanted forest and was swept away to the world without magic by a powerful curse.

But the end of the book upsets her. None of those people ever got their happy endings.

"Mom!" The girl feels strangely emotional over this simple book. "The ending is horrible. There are no happy endings. Who would write this?"

Her mother shrugs sympathetically. "I don't know. Your grandfather said the same thing to me when he saw me reading the book . . . he never let me finish the ending, though. Said it wasn't worth reading."

The girl observes her mother for a minute, solemnly, and then an idea sparks in her bright mind. Her mouth quirks in a smile.

"Well, Mom, it seems that the person who wrote this has no name. Maybe it won't matter if _I_ rewrite it. _I_ will give all those characters a happy ending, and then I will be happy to sow it to _my_ future kids. It's just a story, after all, right?"

Her mother smiles in amusement. "Of course, dear. You were always going on and on about writing your own story."

And so the young woman takes the book up to her room, sits down at her desk, and tears out the last pages where it only spoke of unhappy endings. Then she adds new pages, and sets her pen to paper.

She writes, and writes, and writes.

The Huntsman escapes the Evil Queen's clutches, and he moves to a far-off land where the Curse doesn't strike. He finds a wife and lives a long, peaceful life with her.

The spinner's son never dies. Belle warns him before he can set the magical key into the Dark One's resurrection circle. Instead, they find another way to bring Rumplestiltskin back, without costing anyone's lives.

When the people are returned to Storybrooke because of the second Curse, they do stop Zelena without any repercussions. Regina is able to get through with Zelena, and she returns to Oz to make amends with the people there.

Regina and Robin continue their relationship, and they eventually marry. They have one daughter and one son together, Henry and Roland's little sister and brother. They are named Marian and Daniel.

Charming and Snow have their son, and he is named Lancelot.

Rumplestiltskin and Belle wed and have a daughter as well, naming her Rose.

Emma and Killian attempt a relationship, but Emma still feels like Neal belongs to her. Understandably heartbroken, but resigned, Killian lets her go and sets sail on the _Jolly Roger_. Later, tales are heard that a green fairy joined him on his world journeys, and that they lived happily together.

Even Grumpy found Nova and they rekindle a relationship, and Red overcomes her fear of losing love and finds a life with Dr. Frankenstein back in his realm.

And Emma slowly opens her heart to Neal. They eventually marry, and have a daughter named Renee, because their love for each other has been reborn. They move back to the Enchanted Forest with everyone else.

Henry grows up and marries. He has two daughters and a son, and he names them Emma, Regina, and Baelfire. He learns to use magic by using his believing heart and is able to travel between worlds.

Neal and Emma grow old together and move to Tallahassee, wanting to die together there. The others remain in the Enchanted Forest, but Neal and Emma make constant visits.

Because death follows life, they all eventually die, but with happy endings, and their children grow up and start families of their own. And they carry their parents' stories from generation to generation. The story of "Once Upon a Time" becomes a famous legend throughout the realms, and people find that story as a source of hope and joy in their lives.

"…And they lived happily ever after. The end." The young woman whispers with a smile in her voice and she etches each word carefully.

A whoosh of colorful wind surges through the room, sending some papers flying off the desk, and posters on the walls flap from the effect. Stunned and unsure, the girl glances around, wondering what in the world was that.

She comes downstairs to find her mother cooking dinner. "Mom?" She asks tentatively.

Her mother turns around. "Yes?"

The girl studies her mother's aging, but still-beautiful face. She smiles. "I finished it. I finished the story. It's all better."

Her mother chuckles, a soft, melodious sound to her ears. "That's lovely, darling. Maybe you'll show it to me after dinner?"

"Oh, yes." The girl nods enthusiastically. "I even gave it a name. 'Once Upon a Time', and story where people struggle, people are hurt, people are heartbroken, people are lost, and yet, fate has mercy on them and brings them all happy endings."

"That sounds like a much more beautiful story, my darling," her mother replies with a loving look, "You certainly are a writer in the making."

Blushing, the girl shrugs and ducks her head.

But somehow, deep down inside, she thinks she may have actually done more than just rewrite a simple old story.

Somehow, she thinks it all was _real_. That it all _happened_.

Laughing off her imagination, the girl goes into the dining room to set up the table.

And upstairs, in the quiet bedroom, the book pages slowly turn all the way back to the beginning. The front page rises and falls to close the book. Books can't smile, but this one seems to do so, and a golden title glows across the cover.

_Once Upon a Time_.

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**Author's Note:**

**Thoughts? Review, then, please. Anything you want to say! Thank you for reading this. :-)**


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